Sabah

L’armée israélienne n’a jamais attiré autant de jeunes recrues de l’extérieur : 3484 « lone soldiers » provenant de 70 pays différents, dont 30 % de femmes.
Jews from abroad flocking to join Israeli army - National - Israel News | Haaretz
►http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.652927

Israel snubs Carter over ’anti-Israel’ views - Israel News, Ynetnews
▻http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4649213,00.html

President Rivlin follows Foreign Ministry’s advice to boycott visit by Carter, who has frequently criticized Israel; government will not prevent Carter from visiting Gaza.

Joint List leader: A real apology from Netanyahu would be true equality for Arabs - National - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.648460

The leader of the Joint List of Arab parties, Ayman Odeh, rejected on Monday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s apology for the offense his remarks on Election Day caused, saying that a true apology would include true equality for Israeli Arabs and minority groups.

“I want to see if he recognizes the unrecognized Bedouin villages [in the Negev],” Odeh told Channel 2. “He will keep pushing the racist legislation and will sit with [Habayit Hayehudi’s Naftali] Bennett to legislate the Jewish nation-state law. This isn’t a true apology.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed regret Monday for his statements during the elections last week, in which he called on his supporters to vote, warning that “the Arabs are voting in droves.” "I know the things I said a few days ago hurt some Israeli citizens," Netanyahu said during a meeting Tuesday with representatives of Israeli monitory groups.

During another interview with Channel 10 news, Odeh said that Netanyahu’s “racism didn’t start or end with this inflammatory statement,” adding that “zig-zagging positions are part of Netanyahu’s personality.”

The head of the third-largest party also criticized the fact that Joint List leaders were not invited to the meeting with Netanyahu, accusing him of turning one community against the other.

“Therefore we have no choice but to continue the struggle of democratic Arab and Jewish citizens together against Netanyahu’s destructive policy, and for a future of peace, equality, democracy and social justice for all of the country’s citizens,” Odeh said.

Netanyahu’s comments on Election Day drew harsh criticism in Israel and abroad. The White House said it was “deeply concerned” by “divisive rhetoric” that sought to marginalize Israeli Arabs, and Netanyahu’s remarks against Israel’s Arab citizens were also brought up by Obama in his conversation with Netanyahu a few days after the elections.

In Israel, President Reuven Rivlin took the prime minister to task over the remarks, saying such remarks have no place in a country where people must live as equals. Zionist Union head Isaac Herzog also slammed Netanyahu, saying he “humiliated 20 percent of Israeli citizens for the sake of his election campaign” with those remarks.

Joint Arab List turns down invite from Arab League - National - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.652757

Knesset Members of the Joint Arab List decided on Monday to turn down an invitation by the Arab League’s for a meeting at the League’s headquarters in Cairo, saying they would rather focus on issues directly related to the Israeli Arab public.

After holding consultations, party members said that the timing was not right for such a meeting, but that party would revisit the proposal in the future.

Despite these official explanations, however, Haaretz has learned that party members were concerned that attending a meeting with the Arab League would draw criticism from their constituents for focusing on foreign affairs rather than urgent domestic issues.

The Arab League has shown great interest in the Joint Arab List - which has become the third-largest party in the Knesset – and is keen to hear its views on the political developments in Israel.

The invitation was relayed on Saturday night by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to party leader Ayman Odeh. While the party deliberated on whether to accept the invite, differences emerged between the different parties who make up the list regarding the scope of relations with the Arab world - particularly in the context of the crises in Arab countries such as Syria and Yemen. 

According to Palestinian sources, a suggestion was made to hold the meeting in Doha, Qatar, rather than in Cairo. This idea, however, was turned down: “Qatar is perceived as a divisive element over which there is no consensus among the Arab Israeli public,” a party member explained. Qatar, the official added, is involved in almost every development in the Arab world, including the situation in Syria. “As far as we’re concerned, the Arab League’s headquarters is in Cairo, and such a visit – if it comes to fruition – should take place there,” the official said.

This issue and others were discussed in the Joint Arab List’s meeting on Monday. Some members in the list – which is made up of four parties – are wary of Palestinian and Arab attempts to “smother” them. “We receive and hear things as if the List won the prime minister’s office,” said a party MK, “and there is a high level of expectations that is incongruous with Israel’s political map.”

The party is still awaiting an exact date for a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. While the premier offered to meet on April 27 – a day before the planned strike over house demolitions in Kafr Kana and Dahamesh – the Joint Arab List prefers to meet as early as this week or postpone the meeting by one week. Postponing the meeting would allow the party to present the prime minister with a working plan rather than hold what would amount to a courtesy meeting.

L’extrême droite veut affaiblir le pouvoir de la Cour Suprême, une institution essentielle à ce qui reste de la démocratie israélienne.

Kulanu balks at Likud demand to weaken Israel’s Supreme Court - National - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.652811

70 ans après, l’hommage inédit de la France aux victimes des massacres de Sétif, Guelma et à Kheratta - Le Monde
▻http://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2015/04/20/l-hommage-inedit-de-la-france-aux-victimes-des-massacres-de-setif_4618948_82

Un « geste fort et symbolique ». C’est ainsi que le secrétaire d’Etat aux anciens combattants et à la mémoire, Jean-Marc Todeschini, a qualifié son déplacement dans la ville algérienne de Sétif, dimanche 19 avril, à 300 km à l’est d’Alger. Cette visite est la première d’un représentant du gouvernement français pour commémorer, soixante-dix ans après, les massacres du 8 mai 1945, considérés comme le véritable premier acte de la guerre d’Algérie.
Accueilli à l’aéroport de la ville par son homologue, Tayeb ­Zitouni, le ministre des moudjahidine, M. Todeschini a déposé une gerbe de fleurs devant le mausolée de Saal Bouzid, ce jeune scout tué le 8 mai 1945 pour avoir brandi un drapeau algérien. Ce jour-là, alors que la France fête la victoire contre le nazisme, l’histoire tourne au drame dans l’Est algérien, à Sétif mais aussi à Guelma et à Kheratta, où les manifestations sont réprimées dans le sang. En quelques semaines, des milliers d’Algériens – entre 10 000 et 45 000, selon les sources – seront tués, ainsi qu’une centaine d’Européens.

« En me rendant à Sétif, je dis la reconnaissance par la France des souffrances endurées et rends hommage aux victimes algériennes et européennes de Sétif, de Guelma et de Kheratta » , a inscrit le secrétaire d’Etat dans le livre d’or du musée de la ville, appelant Français et Algériens, « au nom de la mémoire partagée par nos deux pays (…), à continuer d’avancer ensemble vers ce qui les réunit ».
« Tragédie inexcusable »
En 2005, l’ambassadeur de France à Alger, Hubert Colin de Verdière, avait évoqué une « tragédie inexcusable ». En 2008, l’ambassadeur Bernard Bajolet avait pointé la « très lourde responsabilité des autorités françaises de l’époque dans ce déchaînement de folie meurtrière », ajoutant que « le temps de la dénégation est terminé ». Une reconnaissance formulée au plus haut niveau en décembre 2012 par François Hollande. Devant le Parlement algérien, le chef de l’Etat français avait dénoncé la colonisation, « un système profondément injuste et brutal », reconnu « les souffrances (…) infligées au peuple algérien », dont les massacres de Sétif. « Le jour même où le monde triomphait de la barbarie, la France manquait à ses valeurs universelles », poursuivait le président.
Soixante-dix ans après, et en dépit de ces « pas » vers une histoire commune, le travail de mémoire reste un exercice difficile . L’annonce du voyage de ­M. Todeschini a provoqué de nombreuses réactions ces dernières semaines. En France, l’Union nationale des combattants (UNC) avait exprimé sa « stupeur » face à une « provocation inacceptable ». L’association d’anciens combattants dénonce cette visite comme « une démarche supplémentaire de repentance » de la France.
« Cette visite est la traduction des propos tenus par le président de la République en décembre 2012. (…) Le geste joint à la parole », a clarifié dimanche M. Todeschini, ajoutant : « Je ne suis pas dans un acte de repentance. »
Afin de limiter les polémiques, aucun discours officiel n’a accompagné la cérémonie de Sétif . Le secrétaire d’Etat a également pris soin d’inscrire ce déplacement dans le cadre plus large d’un « voyage mémoriel ». « Aucune mémoire n’est oubliée », a fait valoir M. Todeschini, qui s’est aussi rendu au cimetière marin de Mers el-Kébir, où 1 300 marins français furent tués dans une attaque britannique en juillet 1940, ainsi qu’au cimetière militaire du Petit Lac, à Oran, en présence d’une dizaine d’anciens combattants algériens.

L’Union européenne appelle à signaler les produits des colonies israéliennes vendus en Europe
17 AVRIL 2015 | PAR RENÉ BACKMANN

Il semble toutefois que le titre ne correspond pas au contenu, puisque ce sont seize des pays membres et pas l’Union européenne qui ont signé cet appel

▻http://blogs.mediapart.fr/blog/rene-backmann/170415/lunion-europeenne-appelle-signaler-les-produits-des-colonies-israeli

Les ministres des Affaires étrangères de 16 des 28 pays de l’Union européenne viennent d’écrire à Federica Mogherini, haut-représentant de l’Union européenne pour les affaires étrangères pour lui demander de mettre en œuvre l’étiquetage spécifique des biens produits dans les colonies israéliennes des territoires palestiniens occupés, vendus en Europe.

Les pays signataires sont la France, le Royaume Uni, l’Espagne l’Italie, la Belgique, la Suède, Malte, l’Autriche, l’Irlande, le Portugal, la Slovénie, la Croatie, la Finlande, le Danemark, les Pays-Bas et le Luxembourg. L’Allemagne a été la seule des cinq grands pays de l’Union à ne pas signer. La Hongrie, qui figurait dans la liste publiée hier par Haaretz et le Guardian n’a pas signé, non plus, le document. En revanche, la Croatie, qui ne figurait pas dans la liste établie par ces deux quotidiens a endossé cet appel à Federica Mogherini. La signature de son ministre des affaires étrangères et européennes, Vesna Pusic, premier vice-premier ministre, en témoigne.

Outre l’Allemagne et la Hongrie, les 12 pays qui n’ont pas signé la lettre sont la Bulgarie, Chypre, l’Estonie, la Grèce, la Lettonie, la Lituanie, la Pologne, la Roumanie, la République tchèque et la Slovaquie.

Muhammad #Dahlan found to be non-corrupt
▻http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2015/04/muhammad-dahlan-found-to-be-non-corrupt.html

L’explication :

After filing charges of corruption against Muhammad Dahlan by the corrupt PA, a corrupt PA court found Dahlan to be non-corrupt, under pressures from the corrupt government of the UAE.

#Emirats_Arabes_unis

Israeli court brings 12 charges against MP Khalida Jerrar | Maan News Agency
▻http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=760550

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — An Israeli military court has brought 12 charges against Palestinian lawmaker Khalida Jerrar in connection to her membership of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, an international rights group said.

Having been detained and interrogated since Apr. 2, Jerrar was charged by the Israeli military prosecution on Wednesday, according to a report released Friday by Amnesty International.

Charges included membership of an illegal organization, participation in protests, and incitement to kidnap Israeli soldiers.

A review of the charges against her will take place on Apr. 29, the report said.

Jerrar’s defense team argued there was no basis to the incitement charge and that it was vindictive, according to Amnesty’s report.

Israel demolishes al-Araqib homes for 83rd time | Maan News Agency - 20 /04/2015
▻http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?id=760585

BEERSHEBA (Ma’an) — Israeli bulldozers demolished homes in the Bedouin village of al-Araqib village in the Negev for the 83rd time on Monday, in addition to a home in the Negev village of Atir, local activists said.

Israeli police reportedly imposed a blockade on al-Araqib before carrying out the demolitions.

Activist Aziz Siyah Abu Mdeighem told Ma’an: “They smile to us after they demolish our homes and ask mockingly, ’How are you?’”

“It is disrespectful to Palestinians,” he said, “We will stay here even if they demolish al-Araqib 100 times.”

Meanwhile, in Atir in northeastern Hura in the Negev, bulldozers escorted by Israeli police demolished a home in which a family of 12 had been living.

Ibrahim al-Afinsh, who owned the house, said the people of Atir and of the Negev would never give up their rights to their lands.

The activist Abu Mdeighem called on Israel “to respect the law, as they claim their country is democratic.”

The activist said that demolitions in al-Araqib continue to take place, even after the Israeli Higher Court of Justice ruled that al-Araqib’s lands do not belong to the state.

L’armée israélienne pourvoyeuse d’emplois pour 25 % d’Israéliens juifs orthodoxes.

For some Haredim, the IDF serves as gateway to successful career - Business - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/business/.premium-1.652326

For some Haredim, the IDF serves as gateway to successful career
An estimated 25% of ultra-Orthodox men currently enlist for the Israeli army. But some of those who did say it changed their lives forever.

La crise du logement et de la construction en Israël n’existera pas à Jérusalem.

Planners eye Jerusalem Hills as site for new city of 100,000 - National - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.652273

Jerusalem could be getting a giant satellite city in what is today verdant, rolling countryside.

The city would cover 14,000 dunams (3,500 acres) of the Jerusalem Hills, encompassing the existing small towns of Tsur Hadassah and Mevo Beitar with 20,000 new housing units, just inside the Green Line dividing “Israel proper” from the West Bank.

Plans for the proposed city of Bat Harim, which could one day be home to 100,000 people, are due to get their first hearing at a meeting of the Israel Lands Authority Council on Sunday.

But long before the first ground is broken, opposition to the planned city has already been quietly coalescing. The ILA and the Interior Ministry’s Planning Administration favor the idea, but the Jerusalem municipality, which is supposed to take over the area, is opposed.

The area is now under the jurisdiction of Yehuda Regional Council, but plans call for putting the area under the jurisdiction of Jerusalem, even though the capital lies two kilometers northeast of the region.

The area’s existing residents are fighting the idea as well. The Yehuda Regional Council, which would lose control of the area, is leading the battle, backed by residents of Tsur Hadassah and Mevo Beitar, who are loathe to give up their quiet small-town life for decades of construction and urban sprawl.

As it is, even while plans for Bat Harim are just getting started, plans have been approved to build 2,500 homes in Tsur Hadassah, which would double its population and turn the Jerusalem suburb into a small city in its own right.

Plans for about 1,000 of those units were presented a few months ago to a special committee created to speed building approvals to alleviating Israel’s housing crunch. There are also plans for 1,400 homes in Mevo Beitar.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, who apparently has not been party to the plans, made known his opposition in a letter to Interior Minister Gilad Erdan and the director general of the ministry, Shuki Amrani, a month ago.

“I was disappointed and surprised to discover in recent months that the Finance Ministry, Housing Ministry, ILA and National Planning and Building Council have been advancing … in an aggressive way – irresponsibly and without coordinating with the Jerusalem municipality – a massive building program in the environs of Jerusalem and its metropolitan area,” he wrote, referring for Bat Harim.

Barkat said that after a slowdown last year in housing starts in Jerusalem, the pace had been recovering and there was no reason for officials to be looking for places outside the city to start massive building projects.

Barkat expressed concern that Bat Harim would destroy the green belt that now surrounds most of Jerusalem and undermine his efforts to keep people from leaving the city because of the high cost of housing and lack of jobs.

“We are talking about erecting a new neighborhood [Bat Harim] that would attract quality population away from Jerusalem and undermine our efforts to strengthen neighborhoods,” he said. “It’s unacceptable that outside forces that don’t understand the national strategy for Israel’s capital are operating over the head of Jerusalem’s mayor.”

In fact, an earlier plan for a new city back in 1999 was ultimately rejected in favor of increasing population density in Jerusalem. A city spokesman said Barket had not yet decided what he would do next to block Bat Harim.

The Interior Ministry had not responded by press time to the report of Barkat’s letter. But the ILA, Environmental Protection Ministry and the Society for the Protecting of Nature in Israel are attacking the plans as an unnecessary assault on open countryside, even as there is plenty of undeveloped land inside Jerusalem still available for development.

The SPNI, which estimates that Jerusalem still has land available to build 100,000 housing units, launched a campaign in February to stop the plans and is organizing a rally outside ILA Council meeting on Sunday.

“Expanding Jerusalem westward by developing an area unconnected geographically from the city will require huge infrastructure investment,” David Leffler, the Environmental Protection Ministry’s director general, said in a letter to Erdan and Amrani last week, calling on them to abandon the plan entirely.

For its part, the ILA says it has little choice but to open up new areas for development to meet the area’s housing needs. It estimates that the Jerusalem area needs 2,500 new homes to be built every year, or 50,000 over the next two decades.

“The solution is the p’nui u’vinui program [enlarging existing buildings] and urban renewal, and also through new cities,” the ILA said in a statement to TheMarker, saying the area slotted for Bat Harim is one of “relatively low environmental sensitivity.”

Despite the opposition, the ILA in October budgeted 1 million shekels ($250,000) for initial planning for Bat Harim by an outside architectural firm. Its proposals will be presented at Sunday’s meeting.

The SPNI contends that the entire process violates the law, noting that planning authorities have in the recent past rejected any attempt to develop the area. The decision to build a new city can only be made by the government, it contends.

“We are amazed that such an ambitious and significant planning undertaking can get underway solely because of an internal decision taken by the ILA,” said SPNI’s attorney Tal Tsafrir.

Israeli courts give free hand to Shin Bet
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/04/kidnapped-asraf-israeli-military-courts-torture.html

Journalist Nahum Barnea, of the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, reported in his April 10 column that during the searches in Hebron, the IDF detained a Palestinian who subsequently confessed to the kidnapping in his interrogation by the Shin Bet. The faked disappearance and forced confession again give rise to doubts about the use of so-called necessity interrogations by the Shin Bet, where the security agency is authorized to employ “special measures” in the interrogation of detainees.

It is unclear whether the Palestinian who claimed responsibility for the “kidnapping” of Asraf had indeed been subjected to “necessity interrogation.” However, lawyers specializing in civil rights cases, who represent Palestinians accused of security offenses in military courts, have told Al-Monitor that following the abduction and murder of the three Israeli youths last June, the Shin Bet was granted a sweeping license to conduct interrogations using various pressure methods, which often lead to false confessions obtained under duress.

“It is quite clear that there have been many such confessions,” attorney Gaby Lasky told Al-Monitor. Lasky, who represents the Meretz Party on the Tel Aviv City Council, is a human rights lawyer who has represented Palestinians in military courts for many years now. According to Lasky, “Ever since the ‘torture ruling’ given by the Supreme Court [June 1999], where the Supreme Court limited the use of physical means [in security-related interrogations], the court has allowed some torture in cases when the interrogation was defined as ‘a necessity interrogation.’ The number of ‘necessity interrogations’ has significantly increased since the abduction of the three boys, and there are lots of people who have been interrogated under such conditions and [consequently] admitted to all sorts of things.”

Et une autre décision de la Cour suprême autorise la confiscatin de terres palestiniennes à Jérusalem Est en vertu de la « Loi des Absents »
Supreme Court rules : Israel can confiscate Palestinian property in Jerusalem - National - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.652231

Supreme Court rules: Israel can confiscate Palestinian property in Jerusalem
The justices said the controversial Absentee Property Law is applicable in East Jerusalem, but warned it should be used only rarely, and with explicit approval of the attorney general.

Only a day after the High Court of Justice upheld most of the sections of the “Anti-Boycott Law,” the justices of the Supreme Court approved the use of another controversial law: The application of the Absentee Property Law to assets in East Jerusalem. The practical effect of the ruling is that it allows the state to take control of property in East Jerusalem whose owners live in the West Bank or Gaza.

(…)

#expropriation-terres-Jerusalem

Les Israéliens légifèrent sur le boycott qui peut devenir un délit. A voir

Legitimizing the anti-boycott bill harms Israeli democracy - National - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.652199

Just prior to the end of his three months after retirement – the last occasion on which a justice can sign off on rulings related to cases he adjudicated – former Supreme Court President Asher Grunis added his signature to the ruling on the so-called Anti-Boycott Law. This ruling captures the spirit of his entire term – one of judicial passivism, which leaves a broad area open for interpretation by the legislative body, as well as a fondness for the “immaturity” rationale, used in order to dismiss the court’s intervention in cases in which a new bill has not yet been implemented.

The ruling Grunis supported on Wednesday was written by Justice Hanan Melcer, who was joined by the court’s President Miriam Naor, as well as justices Elyakim Rubinstein and Isaac Amit. Thus, a slim 5-4 majority approved the contested part of the law, which states that a public call for boycotting Israel constitutes a civil wrong (or tort) liable to be sued for damages.

“Boycotting Israel” is defined here as a “purposeful avoidance of economic, cultural or academic ties with a person or other entity due solely to their affinity to Israel, one of its institutions or an area under its control, in a manner that would cause financial, cultural or academic harm.”

The justices noted that the law infringes on freedom of speech, but this could be justified since the infringement was proportional and directed at a worthy cause.

However, all the justices concurred that the clause allowing the person calling for a boycott to be forced to pay compensation, even in the absence of proven damage to anyone, was unconstitutional and should be struck down. Justice Melcer emphasized that only a person who could prove being directly affected by a call for a boycott could sue for damages – and that in order to succeed in such a suit, that person would need to prove a causal relationship between the call for a boycott and harm incurred by that call.

This limits the ability to employ this law, since it will not be possible to use it for blanket litigation against people calling for boycotts. Despite this, as pointed out by the minority justices, the grave issue of freedom of speech and the chilling effects of the law are not resolved. Ironically, this ruling creates a situation in which anyone calling for a boycott should hope that his call fails – since only its success can lead to him being sued.

Despite the final result, the ruling will be remembered as the first in which the High Court struck down a law’s clause due to an infringement of free speech: Refusing to endorse a clause that allows for compensation without proof of damage anchors the approach that freedom of speech derives from the right to human dignity, which is protected by Israel’s Basic Law on Human Dignity and Freedom, even though freedom of speech is not specifically mentioned in the Basic Law.

This is hardly a source of comfort or consolation. This is a ruling determining that anyone calling for a boycott can end up being sued. It should be emphasized that the majority of justices made no distinction between the part of the law dealing with calls for boycotting Israel and the part dealing with calls for boycotting areas under Israel’s control. This means that calls for boycotting produce from the West Bank settlements or for boycotting the cultural center in Ariel can lead to a person being sued if this leads to financial damage. This imposes problematic limitations on political freedom of speech.

Justice Melcer writes in his ruling that calls for a boycott or participation in such actions could sometimes constitute acts of “political terror,” ignoring the historic role boycotts played repeatedly as nonviolent means of resistance. Was the boycott of South Africa during the apartheid years “political terror” or a nonviolent form of protest?

One can also criticize the broad comparison made by the justices between the boycott law and laws against discrimination, stating that the new law in fact implements the laws forbidding discrimination. However, the existence of these antidiscrimination laws shows that the boycott law is superfluous. There are already laws in place that proscribe discrimination in many areas, such as employment or supply of goods and services, and these laws could be expanded. These are the laws that should combat wrongful discrimination, such as refusal to hire someone based on their nationality or political opinions.

Calls for a boycott can be annoying and objectionable, but the High Court – even though it restricted the law – has failed to protect freedom of expression in areas where it is particularly important, such as when dealing with unpopular opinions that annoy many people. Consequently, it gave legitimacy to legislation that is part of a wave of proposed antidemocratic bills, designed to “kill the messenger” rather than dealing with the content of the relevant criticism.

The ruling can perhaps be best summarized by the words of Justice Rubinstein, who quoted from the Passover Haggadah, which states: “In every generation, they rise against us to annihilate us. However, the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand.” Rubinstein added, “There is nothing wrong in anchoring laws passed by the Knesset in the struggle against those who wish to annihilate us.” This is a viewpoint that perceives the BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) Movement as a threat to Israel’s existence – a view that sees Israel as a perpetual victim, and only a victim. In light of this perception, the High Court legitimized a bill that harms our democracy.

Seize ministres des Affaires Etrangères européens, dont ceux de la France et la Grande-Bretagne, appellent à étiqueter les produits provenant des colonies israéliennes .

European FMs urge policy chief: Label West Bank settlement products - Diplomacy and Defense - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.652113
Sixteen out of 28 foreign ministers - including France and Britain - sign letter saying that Europeans must not be ’misled by false information,’ and must be aware if the origin of goods is from over the Green Line.

Déclaration d’Ayman Odeh, chef de file de la Liste arabe unie, après les annonces dans la presse d’une rencontre avec Netanyahu suite à la destruction de maisons arabes près de Lod :

(traduction rapide de l’hébreu)

Netanyahu m’a invité aujourd’hui à le rencontrer, dont aucune date n’a encore été fixée, et comme je l’ai déjà dit à plusieurs reprises dans le passé, la Liste unie acceptera de rencontrer tous ceux qui veulent nous rencontrer, y compris Netanyahu, mais il ne s’agira pas d’une visite de politesse ou de bienséance. Nous viendrons voir le premier ministre avec des revendications claires, dont la première est l’interruption immédiate de la destruction de maisons, la reconnaissance des villages non reconnus du Neguev, et la mise en œuvre immédiate d’un programme détaillé pour l’égalité pour la population arabe israélienne.

J’aurais souhaité croire que Netanyahu comprend qu’il a commis de lourdes fautes ces derniers temps mais il semble que, comme à son habitude, il fait surtout un travail cosmétique et médiatique, et son service s’efforce de répandre dans les médias la nouvelle d’une future rencontre entre nous, avant même qu’une date ait été fixée. Nous souhaitons nous rendre à une rencontre de travail et non à une réunion de relations publiques.

Nous veillerons à tenir le public au courant du contenu de cette rencontre, car notre but n’est pas de nous rencontrer pour le plaisir de se rencontrer, mais pour affirmer nos positions et revendiquer nos droits.

#Ayman-Odeh #rencontre-Netanyahu-Ayman_Odeh

IDF charges Palestinian lawmaker with security offenses - Diplomacy and Defense - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.652013

IDF charges Palestinian lawmaker with security offenses
Khalida Jarrar indicted in Israeli military tribunal on charges of belonging to PFLP, inciting others to abduct Israeli soldiers.
By Jack Khoury

The military prosecution on Wednesday charged Palestinian lawmaker Khalida Jarrar with 12 security offenses. Earlier this month the army ordered Jarrar imprisoned without trial for six months, citing “dangerousness.”

The indictment charges Jarrar with membership in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, serving an administrative role in the organization, conducting public works for the PFLP and inciting others to abduct Israeli soldiers.

“We were surprised by the prosecution, which explicitly said last week there were no grounds to detain her until the end of proceedings,” said Jarrar’s lawyer, Sahar Francis. “The indictment strengthens our argument that the imprisonment is vindictive.”

Jarrar is a member of the Palestinian committee monitoring the International Criminal Court procedures. She was arrested just after the Palestinian Authority joined the ICC.

The military prosecution asked to keep Jarrar in prison until the end of proceedings, even though the prosecution had previously told the military tribunal that it had no evidence to justify keeping her in custody until then.

Jarrar was arrested April 1 at her home in the town of El Bireh, near Ramallah. The IDF said she had breached travel restrictions imposed in August, which banned her from leaving the Jericho area. No other security offenses were mentioned.

Jarrar’s arrest prompted sharp protests from the Palestinian Authority and international human rights groups, which demanded her release

#Khalida-Jarrar

Trois maisons « illégales » détruites par des bulldozers israéliens ce mercredi dans le village de Dahamesh, près de la ville de Lod. D’autres maisons avaient été précédemment détruites à Kfar Kana.
Appel à la grève le 28 avril dans le « secteur arabe », comme on dit en Israël. Le Premier ministre a demandé à rencontrer le chef de file de la Liste arabe unie Ayman Odeh, qui s’entretiendra au préalable avec les autres formations de la liste.

Israeli Arabs call for general strike over home demolitions - National - Israel News | Haaretz
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Israeli Arabs call for general strike over home demolitions
Israel demolishes third illegal Arab construction in 48 hours.
By Jack Khoury

Three homes were destroyed Wednesday under a demolition order in the unrecognized village of Dahamesh, near Lod – the third demolition of illegal construction in an Arab community within 48 hours. The demolition in Dahamesh began at 4 A.M., when hundreds of policemen, including riot control units, surrounded the area to secure the entrance of three bulldozers that destroyed three homes belonging to the Assaf family that were under construction.

Walid Assaf told Haaretz that he had struggled for years to secure a building permit, and “whoever knows the story of Dahamesh knows that we are doing everything to get recognition and a permit to build a home. We’ve gone all the way to the Supreme Court. They demolished today, but I’m not giving up. We aren’t leaving. This is our land; we were born here and here we will die.”

On Monday, a home was demolished in Kafr Kana in the Lower Galilee, and on Tuesday three structures were knocked down in the unrecognized village of Kafr Saua in the Negev.

The Arab Higher Monitoring Committee, the main Israeli Arab leadership body, announced a general strike in the Arab sector on April 28, including in schools, because of the demolitions. The committee also said it would help the affected families rebuild their homes without any help from international organizations. Many Israeli Arabs believe that the recent spate of demolitions signifies a change of policy in the wake of the recent Knesset election,

The Prime Minister’s Office made contact Wednesday afternoon with aides of Joint Arab List chairman Ayman Odeh to arrange a meeting between Odeh and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Odeh’s associates said he would like the meeting to take place as soon as possible given the recent demolitions, but needed to consult with the heads of the other factions that comprise the list.

The Assafs’ attorney, Kais Nasser, said that there had been a hearing earlier this week at the Lod District Court on delaying the demolition order, and the court had asked the state for a response within 48 hours. “We were waiting for a response in writing; we didn’t expect the response to be demolition.”

The Interior Ministry said there was no connection between the demolition in Kafr Kana and the one in Dahamesh. “The demolition [in Dahamesh] was carried out in accordance with the District Court decision handed down two days ago that rejected the request to postpone the demolition. These are illegal, unoccupied structures of between 120 and 150 square meters that were built on land zoned for agriculture.”

Article très instructif.
Le directeur du ministère des Affaires étrangères israélien adresse une lettre à son ministre (Avigdor Lieberman) rappelant le « prix à payer » pour réparer les mauvaises relations avec l’administration Obama.
Fait nouveau : Israël subit des pressions sur son programme nucléaire par la Conférence des Parties chargée d’examiner le traité sur la non-prolifération des armes nucléaires (TNP) de 2015 qui débute le 27 avril prochain. Et des initiatives anti-israéliennes sont prises par l’IAEA

Foreign Ministry director : Israel may pay a heavy price for crisis with U.S. - Diplomacy and Defense - Israel News | Haaretz
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Coordination with the U.S. is crucial to Israel’s ability to cope with Palestinian UN bid and rearming of Hezbollah, top official says.
By Barak Ravid

The director of the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday sent a letter to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman warning that Israel “is liable to pay a heavy price” because of the “intense, ongoing, and public” crisis in relations with the U.S. administration.

In a two-page letter obtained by Haaretz, Foreign Ministry director-general Nissim Ben-Sheetrit called on Israel to take steps to quickly repair U.S.-Israel ties or face the consequences in the diplomatic and security arenas.

Ben-Sheetrit’s letter focuses on the tense relations between the Netanyahu government and the Obama administration. He wrote that close coordination with the United States is crucial and directly connected to Israel’s ability to cope with all its diplomatic and security challenges.

Under the heading “Diplomatic Challenges and Reorganization of the Foreign Ministry,” Ben-Sheetrit details the position of the Foreign Service’s professional staff regarding several issues Israel will have to address within weeks of the new government’s establishment. He said Israel will have to contend with the following issues before the June 30 deadline for reaching a final agreement between Iran and the large powers:

The pending UN Security Council resolution initiated by France that deals with the Palestinian Authority’s request to become a full member of the United Nations. This resolution is expected to set parameters for resolving the core issues for reaching a permanent-status arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians.

Palestinian lawsuits against Israel at the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

* Pressure on Israel regarding its nuclear program by the Review Conference of the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which opens later this month, and anti-Israel initiatives by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Threat from the north

One of the most serious problems Israel must address is the need to formulate a clear and firm stance on Hezbollah’s rearming and the increasing threat from the north, wrote Ben-Sheetrit. Calling this “a most urgent and critical issue for Israel,” he added: “Dealing well with this issue will be next to impossible if it is done without close coordination with the United States.”

The Foreign Ministry director also addressed the effort by Israel to improve the conditions of the nuclear agreement with Iran before June 30. In diplomatic language, Ben-Sheetrit criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approach to the dispute with the Obama administration on this matter.

“The loud argument being conducted with the White House on the Iranian issue, beyond the other damage, is undermining Israel’s ability to persuade the U.S. administration of the need for crucial changes in the final version of the developing nuclear agreement,” Ben-Sheetrit wrote.

Given all these challenges, Foreign Ministry officials say the most important challenge facing the Israeli government is repairing relations with the United States. “We ascribe the greatest importance to leading processes that will quickly rehabilitate Israeli-American relations so as to prevent harm to many vital Israeli interests in the international arena,” Ben-Sheetrit wrote.

He does not clarify what he means by “processes that will quickly rehabilitate” these bilateral ties. However, numerous Foreign Ministry officials, as well as officials of American Jewish organizations and members of the Obama administration, say replacing Ron Dermer as Israeli ambassador to the United States is one step that must be taken to end the crisis.

So far Netanyahu has supported Dermer, who is considered one of the premier’s closest advisers, and is not considering a replacement.

Ben-Sheetrit suggests bolstering the Foreign Ministry units that handle Israeli relations with the black and Hispanic communities in the United States and with the Christian world in general, particularly “given the great harm by radical Islam against the Christian population of the Middle East and Africa.”

A political vacuum that only Netanyahu can fill - Opinion - Israel News | Haaretz
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A political vacuum that only Netanyahu can fill
If Netanyahu is correct, and Israel is a legitimate partner in American politics, then “national unity” is unavoidable amid this emptiness.
By Yitzhak Laor

Ambassador Dermer cut off from Obama’s staff, White House entry logs show - Diplomacy and Defense - Israel News | Haaretz
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The extent of the disconnect between Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer and the powers-that-be in Washington has been highlighted by new data released by the Obama administration.

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Examination of the registry that details the one million entry permits issued to the White House over the last 18 months shows that Dermer had precious few meetings with President Barack Obama’s advisers in 2014.

The data do reveal other interesting Israeli visitors, however, such as Benjamin Netanyahu’s son Yair, opposition leader Isaac Herzog, retired politician Ehud Barak, TV Channel 2 anchorwoman Yonit Levy, and others.

The registry was published on March 27 by the White House, and included visits to the presidential compound and the adjacent building housing the National Security Council.

The listings constitute a database meant to be used by the White House itself, but since 2012 they have been disclosed to the public following a petition by a nongovernment group of citizens who have resolved to safeguard the ethics of governance – particularly with regard to ties between business and politics.

The registry is incomplete, however, inasmuch as it does not include secret meetings with administration officials that were held elsewhere. The list also excludes meetings removed from the registry due to their sensitive diplomatic or security nature. Furthermore, as in any government bureaucracy, in this case lack of organization and of adherence to procedures likely exist in the White House as well.

Nevertheless, the registry provides an interesting perspective on Israel-U.S. relations, which became tenser than ever in the course of 2014.

Miami-born Ron Dermer started serving as Israel’s envoy to Washington in December 2013. For years prior to that, he had been a senior adviser to Netanyahu, eventually becoming one of his closest associates. Dermer immigrated to Israel at the age of 26.

During his years in the Prime Minister’s Bureau, Dermer was a red flag, in the eyes of the administration, due to his close ties to senior Republican politicians. Recently, he became, de facto, persona non grata at the White House, for his part in organizing Netanyahu’s March 3 speech before the joint session of the Congress.

Ever since he assumed his ambassadorial role, administration officials treated him according to the principle of treat your guest with respect, but be wary. In March 2014, Israeli journalist Chico Menashe reported on Israel Radio that National Security Advisor Susan Rice was refusing to meet the ambassador. Several similar reports appeared in the following months. For a long time, the administration and Netanyahu’s bureau attempted to deny or downplay the severity of this situation.

However, looking at the new data concerning visits to the White House, one sees that Dermer has almost no ties with Obama’s senior advisers. From December 3, 2013, to the end of 2014, he visited the White House only 11 times. On only one of these occasions, on June 25, 2014, was there a business meeting with Obama’s senior Middle Eastern affairs adviser Philip Gordon.

Four other visits by Dermer coincided with visits by Netanyahu to the White House, and the rest included the presentation of his credentials and attendance at functions or receptions that included multiple guests.

The absence of an ongoing relationship between the ambassador and the president’s advisers stands out when compared to the number of visits held by his No. 2 man, Reuven Azar, deputy chief of mission to the Israeli Embassy, since assuming his job in the middle of last year. Between July and December of 2014, Azar entered the White House 10 times, eight times for business meetings with Obama’s or Vice President Joe Biden’s senior staffers. The purpose of two other meetings was unclear, based on the published information.

Even though the deputy head of mission has held several meetings with senior National Security Council staff at the White House, the new data show that very few meetings took place between any official representative of the Israeli government and senior advisers belonging to Obama’s inner circle – such as National Security Adviser Rice; her deputy, Ben Rhodes; or chief-of-staff Denis McDonough.

Left-wingers welcome

Indeed, the registry information shows that the only senior Israeli official who met Rice during the whole of 2014 was her counterpart in Jerusalem, the prime minister’s national security adviser, Yossi Cohen. Apparently there were two such encounters, in addition to three visits as part of Netanyahu’s entourage during meetings with President Obama.

Another senior Israeli who managed to meet a member of Obama’s inner circle during the period in question was opposition leader Isaac Herzog. On September 9, 2014, he met the White House chief-of-staff McDonough for just over an hour.

The registry of entries records a few more Israelis who came to the White House during that year: On March 3, 2014 at 7:05 P.M., several hours after a meeting between Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu, his son Yair entered the White House. The stated objective of the visit was to tour the grounds. His guide was Zaid Hassan, from the White House’s public relations department. After two and a half hours, he left the premises.

On May 7, 2014 at 3 P.M., former Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak entered the White House. No longer in office for some time, he met with Vice President Biden for almost an hour.

On December 5, 2014 at 12:27 P.M., Israel TV Channel 2’s anchorwoman Yonit Levy came to see one of Obama’s inner-circle members, deputy NSC director Rhodes. Their meeting lasted for just over an hour.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman appears on the list only once: On December 5, 2013, he attended a reception given by President Obama and his wife Michelle, which was attended by many people. Lieberman was in Washington at the time while attending the Saban Forum conference.

On November 25, 2014, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzachi Hanegbi came to the White House to meet senior Middle Eastern affairs adviser Philip Gordon.

Another Israeli visitor to the White House was Israel Defense Forces Gen. (ret.) Amos Gilad, head of the political-defense wing of the Defense Ministry. In October 2014 he met with Vice President Biden’s National Security Adviser Colin Kahl, and with the senior director for the Levant, Israel and Egypt at the NSC, Yael Lampert.

Moreover, the newly published records show that between May 2012 and August 2013, Gilad met with the president’s special assistant for Russia and Central Asian affairs at the White House, Alice Wells. It is unclear what the background for these meetings was.

Looking into the records of the entry permits reveals that several heads of leftist Israeli not-for-profit groups also visited the White House during 2014. At the end of October there was a visit by the head of the Geneva Initiative group, Gadi Baltiansky, followed the next day by a visit by the head of Friends of the Earth Gidon Bromberg. They met separately with Maher Bitar, director of Israeli-Palestinian affairs at the White House.

On December 2, left-wing activist Danny Zeidman, whose main interest is problems related to Jerusalem, met with adviser Gordon. On December 9, attorney Michael Sfard from the Yesh Din human rights group, met NSC Mideast adviser Lempert.

Les relations israélo-américaines sont décidément très étroites : le père de John Kerry aurait « trempé » dans le nucléaire israélien. Encore une fois, intéressant de savoir pourquoi cette info sort maintenant.

How Israel’s Dimona nuclear reactor was concealed from the U.S. - Diplomacy and Defense - Israel News | Haaretz
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How Israel’s Dimona nuclear reactor was concealed from the U.S.
Documents revealed this week shed new light on the story of Israel’s nuclear program, and the role of John Kerry’s father in the saga.

One of the most fascinating historical turning points in the saga of nuclear development in the Middle East links Israel to Iran: the current prospect of the Iranians purchasing Russian S-300 ground-to-air missiles to protect their nuclear facilities from an Israeli or American attack shares a striking similarity to Israel’s purchase of American Hawk missiles to defend its own nuclear reactor in Dimona. Fulfilling that wish was the real aim of a deal that the government of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion sought to strike in the late 1950s and early 1960s from the Kennedy and Eisenhower administrations.

Beyond the official explanation — the need to defend Israeli air force bases, population centers and reserve recruits from Egyptian aerial bombing - there was another unseen aspect of the deal, relating to Dimona. The Hawk missiles also served to defend the nuclear reactor located there, and during the 1967 Six-Day War were deployed to bring down an Israeli plane piloted by Captain Yoram Harpaz that strayed into the airspace around the reactor after being hit over Jordan during a bombing raid.

Many of the details surrounding Israel’s nuclear story have already been revealed through research and via the declassification of secret information, including information released by the U.S. government - but there was more to be mined. Nuclear history researchers Avner Cohen and Bill Burr are releasing a new trove of old documents this week on the Website of the National Security Archive of George Washington University in Washington, providing new angles on the story. Two of them are especially eyebrow-lifting: The role played by Richard Kerry, (the father of current U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry) and the story behind the birth of the tale that the Dimona reactor was ’only’ a textile factory.

Cohen - who is a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey - and Burr document the principal effort on Israel’s part to forge atomic ties with France - a supplier of equipment and knowhow - and with Norway, which had agreed (together with Britain, which wanted to get rid of its overstocks from Norway) to sell the essential heavy water to run the reactor. Then there was the secondary goal - of hiding everything from the Americans until the Dimona reactor was an established fact. For nearly four long years, between 1957 and 1960, the effort to hide the project was crowned a success, either due to steps that Israel and France took to protect the information or due to intelligence failures in the gathering, analysis and inter-agency coordination of various professionals and political figures in Washington.

The cumulative result was that while the Americans had their suspicions and tried to sniff things out, they didn’t know for certain. As they had been in the Sinai-Suez military campaign of 1956, the Eisenhower administration was surprised by the depth of the Israeli-French cooperation. And as before, in late 1960, around the time of the U.S. presidential election, there was another surprise - although this time Eisenhower was nearing the end of his final term and could not seek re-election, instead passing the mantle to his successor, John Kennedy.

Secretary of State Kerry, who is currently up to his neck in the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, can find dispatches in the State Department archives - or through Cohen and Burr - that his father sent from the Norwegian capital concerning Israel’s nuclear program. The elder Kerry, who served as secretary of the U.S. embassy in Norway, reported in the summer of 1959 on conversations between American and Norwegian officials from the two countries’ nuclear energy commissions, and about his subsequent efforts to look further into the issue of the sale of heavy water to Israel. The secrecy, the Norwegians explained, was designed to avoid attracting the attention of officials enforcing the Arab boycott of Israel with regard to the companies involved in the heavy water transaction. Two other reasons cited were Norwegian participation in the United Nations emergency force in Sinai (and on other Arab-Israeli cease-fire lines) and contacts with Egypt over the sale of nuclear equipment for research and medical purposes.

Official Israel continues to maintain to this day, 45 years after the disclosure of the efforts to build the facility at Dimona, that its declared purpose was “part of the national effort to develop the Negev, extensive research, study and applied activity aimed at expanding basic knowledge and to further economic development.” From the moment it was caught, Israel admitted the nuclear goal - but stressed that like the small Sorek reactor, Dimona was meant for peaceful purposes. One can assume it wasn’t all just a show of innocence. The U.S. strategic air command also boasted during the Cold War that peace was its aim, that arming itself with nuclear missiles and bombers was designed to deter war.

And when it comes to the textile factory as cover for the Dimona project, researchers from the National Security Archive dug up its origins in a helicopter ride that 35-year-old American Ambassador Ogden Reed took over the northern Negev in the summer of 1960. Reed asked Adi Cohen (no relation to Avner Cohen) of the Israeli Finance Ministry for an explanation for the extensive earthmoving work in the area. Cohen, who was a close associate of Finance Ministers Levy Eshkol and Pinhas Sapir, had worked at the Israeli embassy in Washington (where he met and married Israeli statesman Abba Eban’s secretary). Cohen was well aware of the economic pressures that Eisenhower had applied on Ben-Gurion in 1956 and was also aware of the difficulties that were being encountered at the Finance Ministry over funding for the nuclear reactor.

Cohen was also concerned (and justifiably so, according to the internal documents of the Eisenhower administration) over a loss of American aid to Israel and the prospect that the tax-deductible status of American Jewish contributions to Israel would be eliminated. He preferred to provide a half-truth over total fabrication. He knew that Jerusalem architect Rudolf Trostler was planning industrial facilities in development towns in the Negev, including “Dimona Fibers” near the beginning of the Dimona-Eilat highway. “It’s a textile factory,” Cohen told the ambassador, winging it.

And while Israel was consumed with political scandal in the so-called “Lavon Affair” and a threat of a schism in the ruling Mapai party, (predecessor to today’s Labor Party) Israel’s ambassador in Washington Avraham Harman attempted to promote a “calming” version of the Dimona project before the Kennedy administration. It was nothing but "a simple story,” Harman attempted to persuade Assistant Secretary of State Lewis Jones in February 1961, about two months after the project was uncovered. There is plenty of time and no plutonium, Harman told Jones, seeking to convince him that no reactor would be operating for at least two years. The Israelis, Harman said, could not conceive why there should be continuing interest in Dimona in the United States or anywhere else.

In addition to the memorandum of the conversation, the official papers include a summary of the position of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff after the power of the Shah of Iran was undermined. Iran was a weak link in Western defense, the new defense secretary Robert McNamara was informed, and the Shah’s regime was problematic. Any alternative to the Shah seemed worse from the standpoint of American interests, but a readiness was required to shift from support for the Shah if he was on the verge of being overthrown. That, essentially, is what the Carter administration did in the late 1970s, in the face of the revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Over 45,000 Holocaust survivors living in poverty in Israel - Israel News, Ynetnews
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Approximately 189,000 Holocaust survivors are living in Israel in 2015. Many of whom are below the poverty line, suffer from health problems, often feel lonely and believe that future generations will forget the Holocaust after they are gone, a report released Monday showed.
 
 
A day before Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel (FBHV) has published its annual report, which found that despite a NIS 1 billion plan implemented by the government, about 45,000 of survivors live below the poverty line - 30 percent of all Holocaust survivors living in Israel.
 
According to the report, some 78 percent of survivors suffer from health problems, 45 percent often feel lonely and 46 percent believe that their children and grandchildren will forget the Holocaust after they are gone.

Hezbollah leader says Saudi strikes in Yemen constitute ’genocide’ - Middle East - Israel News | Haaretz
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AP - A top leader of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group directed a barrage of criticism at Saudi Arabia on Monday, accusing the kingdom of committing genocide with its airstrike campaign targeting Yemen’s Shiite rebels and warning it will “pay a heavy price” for its involvement.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, the Shiite militant group’s deputy chief, Sheikh Naim Kassem, said Saudi Arabia made a “strategic mistake” by interfering in Yemen’s internal affairs.

More than two weeks of Saudi-led airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, have failed to stop the rebel power grab. The Saudi campaign has also turned Yemen into a new proxy war between the kingdom and Iran, which has backed the Houthis, though Tehran denies aiding the rebels militarily. Hezbollah is a close Iran ally.

The strikingly tough criticism of the region’s top Sunni powerhouse underlines the widening rift between Saudi Arabia and Shiite-led Iran, and is likely to further polarize the Sunni-Shiite divide in a turbulent Middle East.

“Saudi Arabia has embroiled itself (in Yemen) and will incur very serious losses ... that will increasingly reflect on its status, its internal situation and its role in the region,” Kassem said.

“What happened in Yemen is a crime that cannot be ignored. ... Saudi Arabia is committing genocide in Yemen, we cannot be silent about that,” the Hezbollah No. 2 said, likening the Saudi-led airstrikes on Yemen to Israel’s bombing campaigns in Gaza.

At least 643 people, most of them civilians, have been killed since March 19, when the Houthi power grab escalated, the World Health Organization said last week — the vast majority of them since the start of the Saudi air campaign on March 26. Another more than 120,000 people have been displaced by the airstrikes, the UN said Monday.

While the Iranian-backed Hezbollah has sometimes criticized Saudi Arabia in the past, it has always been careful to maintain a level of respect, particularly in light of the wide support the kingdom enjoys among Lebanon’s Sunnis. The Saudi monarch is the custodian of Islam’s two holiest shrines in Mecca and Medina, a position that lends him special importance and influence in the region.

The Yemen campaign has already led to a bitter war of words between Lebanese politicians who support Iran and those who oppose it. The Lebanese are split along political and sectarian lines exacerbated by the 4-year-old conflict in neighboring Syria, and the harsh criticism of Saudi Arabia was likely to inflame sectarian tensions even more.

Speaking in Hezbollah’s stronghold in southern Beirut, Kassem suggested that the Saudi-led campaign inside Yemen would lead to problems at home.

“What is happening in Yemen today will reflect on Saudi Arabia internally,” he said, adding that the predominantly Sunni kingdom has its own domestic problems that “may cause the internal situation to implode.”

“So it would be wiser for it not to interfere in Yemen’s affairs in a negative way, but rather in a positive way, by calling for dialogue,” Kassem added. Saudi Arabia has called for a negotiated solution and has offered to mediate talks between all parties to the Yemen conflict, but it has refused an immediate halt to the air campaign.

The Hezbollah leader’s comments, among the harshest so far leveled by the Lebanese militant group against the Saudi-led campaign, echoed those of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who last week also called the Saudi airstrikes genocide.

Kassem urged Saudi Arabia to “return to its senses” and halt the air campaign, which he said was only helping Al-Qaida’s affiliate in Yemen, which is a sworn enemy of the Houthis.

However, he denied accusations that Hezbollah has sent in fighters or advisers to bolster the Shiite rebels. Hezbollah’s opponents say it has sent in fighters and Yemeni officials have told the AP it is supplying advisers. Hezbollah denied a report this week in a Saudi newspaper that a Hezbollah fighter died in Yemen.

Hezbollah to join Assad forces in Syria

On Syria, Kassem predicted the war there would continue for a long time, adding that Hezbollah’s fighters were preparing to join President Bashar Assad’s forces in fighting the Islamic State group in the rugged Qalamoun mountains bordering Lebanon.

“I see the battle in Qalamoun as inevitable,” he said, adding that it was delayed because of weather conditions. The battle is likely to pit Hezbollah and the Lebanese army on one side of the border and the Syrian army on the other side, against the Islamic State group and Nusra Front militants.

Thousands of Hezbollah members are fighting in Syria alongside Assad’s troops against the mainly Sunni rebels seeking to topple him. Their role — highly divisive in Lebanon — has helped turn the fighting in Assad’s favor in several key locations of the war-ravaged country.

Kassem reiterated that the participation of Hezbollah in the war in Syria was to protect Lebanon from Islamic militants.

He insisted the Syrian army was on a winning streak, despite a string of recent military defeats incurred at the hands of rebels, saying they do not change the military situation on the ground.